Door operating device



June 1948- A. w. LANCASTER nbon OPERATING DEVICE Original Filed Nov. 23, 1945 INV E-N'TOR ANN; LANCA3'TE-R Patented June 15, 1948 DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Arthur Wesley Lancaster, Orillia, Ontario, Canada, assignor to E. Long Limited, Orillia, On-

tario, Canada, a company of Ontario, Canada Original application November 23, 1945, Serial No. 630,186. Divided and this application December 2, 1946, Serial No. 713,477

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a door operating device and is a division of my co-pending application, Serial Number 630,186 in which a mine car door construction having doors upwardly swingable to uncover a side of the car, and a door operating mechanism were disclosed.

Door operating mechanism for dump cars of the above'mentioned general class in which the Sides of the car are swingable in an upward direction to release the load, have been provided in the past. They have had the disadvantage, however, that it has been diflicult to correctly align them with the car so that the operating mechanism can grip the doors to open them. This invention overcomes these disadvantages.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a simple and eflicient door operating mechanism designed to readily engage with the doors of the car to open them and release its contents.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a door lifting handle or projection which will co-operate with the lifting mechanism to provide for proper engagement of the door lifting mechanism with the door, even though such lifting means may not be properly centered in respect of the latter.

With these and other objects in view, the invention generally comprises a door lifting unit having two lifting cylinders mounted so that they are disposed one on each side of the car when the car is positioned under the unit. Piston rods, having door gripping means adapted to engage with the side doors of the car, depend from each of the cylinders. The cylinders are spaced apart a greater distance than the width of the car but are swingable inwardly towards one another to engage the doors so that the doors will be raised as the pistons operate in their cylinders. A control cylinder, connecting with each of the lifting cylinders, swings the latter inwardly to engage the doors.

The invention will be clearly understood after reference to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows an end View of the lifting device about to raise the dump doors of a, mine car which opens along its sides (the car being shown in end elevation), the lifting movement being illustrated in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the projecting means on the doors of each car adapted for engagement by the lifting means in a lifting operation.

Referring to the drawings, A generally indicates the dump door lifting mechanism which has lifting cylinders C and a control cylinder D aligned with the doors 26, 21 of a dump car.

The cylinders C and D are suspended froma suitable suspension rod or the like 38 by means of a suitable clevis such as the clevises 39 and 40 which pivotally connect with the protruding lugs iii and 42 by means of the transverse wrist pins t3 and 44. Thus, it is clear that the cylinders may swing in an arc longitudinally of the direction of the car and in an arc transversely of the car.

When the car reaches dumping position and is disposed between the downwardly hanging piston rods 34 and the cylinders C, the latter are disposed in a lowered position below the door lifting projections 36 and by operating the manual control for the cylinder D, the piston rod thereof is raised. By means of the link connections 45 pivotally connected with the lower end of the piston rod 31 at one end and at their opposite ends with the lower end-s of the cylinders C, the latter are caused to swing inwardly, as generally indicated in dotted lines, so that the hook-like members 35 are brought into engagement with the door lifting projections 36 and the piston rods 34 are caused to rise in the cylinders C as the latter are operated. The action is aptly illustrated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1 so that as the doors are caused to swing to the upper dotted position, the contents of the car is discharged through the side openings thus exposed. In this action the doors swing outwardly to a greater degree at the bottom than at the top as described in my co-pending application 630,186 and the content-s are, therefore, cleanly and readily discharged while the doors are lifted uniformly from the central point of mounting of the lifting projections 36.

The lifting projections take the form, as particularly illustrated in Fig. 2', wherein the lifting bar or shoulder 46 is upwardly sloped inwardly from its ends to a maximum height at the center 41 of the projection. This forms a guide means for centering the hook-like elements of the piston rod 35 since it is apparent that if the hook-like elements engage the projection to one side or the other of the center, the guide slope of the projections will cause the hook-like members to center in the projections. Moreover, the swinging movement of the cylinders C and cylinder D in the longitudinal direction of the car will permit ready centering as well as a clean engagement or disengagement with the door lifting projections where the car is slightly in motion during the commencement of the engagement between the hook-like members 35 and the door lifting means or the disengagement of these members from the door lifting means.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided ea, simple door: operating ==mechanis'm which-will'readiiyiconnect witlithe doors of the car even though the car may not be exactly aligned under it. Changes and modifications I the embodiment shown will be apparent .to those skilled in the art. It is, thereforegnot intended that the disclosure ShO'llldrbE' read-ain a limiting sense except for the limitationsiexpressedinithe following claims. a

What I claim as my invention is:

1. For use with a dump cal-having; doors swingably mounted on each side thereof and swingable upwardly to dump the contents of the car and including engageable means disposed on said doors for lifting purposes, a door lifting unit comlprisirfgi arpair of liftingeylinders suspendedi-from ea mounting andfsspaced i apart: a distanc e: greater i'thanflthe width tof rthe lcar,-'isaidcylinders being inwardlyxsswingable. towards one t another. :and

; having pistonflrods'rdependingtherefrom and terminating rat val level adjacent wto a 2 lower portion ofzsaiddoors'ewhen saiducar :is disposed :between isaidipiston':rodsldoongripping means :in' connec- 4 tion with said piston rods, a control cylinder and means operatively connecting said control cylinder and said lifting cylinders to swing the latter inwardly towards the doors of a car whereby to engage said door gripping means with the engageable :meanseof tsaid dooraewsaid aliftingwylinders beingi operableito raisegsaidgpistonvrods and to swing said doors upwardly to open position when mangaged by said rods.

2. A cardoor lifting means as claimed in claim 1,-in"-whieh means is provided for mounting said I .liftingmpistonsi.to..swing also in a direction at rightmanglesltotthir inward swinging movement 'wwherebywto:causei-said piston rods to swing relav 35 tivelyto the longitudinal axis of said car when engagirrguanddisengaging the doors of the latter as" the scar Y isl-in'imotion.

3. A car door lifting means as claimed in claim l 'in wl iich said control piston includes a piston rod and a pair of links pivotally connected adjar -wardly-uponoperation of said contromylinder to engage the-pistonzrods withlsaidtdoors.

ARTHUR aNonsTEa 

